Column - Mark Clanton: Smoking laws need to be bigger in Texas

You just inhaled more than 4,000 chemicals - 60 of which are known or suspected to cause cancer - if you're in a public place or workplace in Texas that still allows smoking.

Secondhand smoke is a known killer. It's the third leading preventable cause of death in the United States. Yet Texans in just 14 communities breathe smoke-free air in all public indoor places, thanks to local ordinances. Another 33 communities have smoke-free ordinances that include some exceptions.

All Texans deserve to breathe smoke-free indoor air when they're out in public. That's why Smoke-Free Texas is asking the Texas Legislature to pass a comprehensive smoke-free law that covers the entire state.

State Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, has filed such a proposal, Senate Bill 368. If this bill is passed, Texas will join 16 other states with a comprehensive smoke-free law.

Sixty-six percent of Texans support a comprehensive, statewide smoke-free law that would prohibit smoking in all indoor workplaces and public facilities, including public buildings, offices, restaurants and bars, according to a recent poll conducted by Baselice and Associates and commissioned by Smoke-Free Texas, a coalition that includes the American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, American Lung Association and Texas PTA.

The health dangers of secondhand smoke are undeniable. Exposure kills 53,000 Americans every year, according to the National Cancer Institute. Cancer, heart disease, chronic asthma, bronchitis, low birth weight - I could recite statistic after statistic about the diseases or medical conditions caused in adults and children by secondhand smoke.

In fact, "scientific evidence indicates there is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke," according to the 2006 U.S. Surgeon General report, the most comprehensive scientific report ever produced on the health impact of secondhand smoke.

What is being debated is how to protect the public from these dangers. Some believe it's acceptable to allow smoking in special smoking sections or rooms with separate ventilation systems. Others believe smoking should be allowed in bars.

But what about employees who work long shifts in smoky environments, or even non-smokers who want to enjoy an evening out? The only way to protect everyone from the health hazards of secondhand smoke is to completely eliminate exposure. Smoke-free policies are the "most economic and effective approach for providing protection from exposure to secondhand smoke," according to the U.S. Surgeon General.

About 22 percent of Texans smoke. They have the right to smoke, but the other 78 percent have the right to safe air in public places.

Restaurant and bar owners concerned about losing money by eliminating smoking have nothing to fear. Extensive analyses of sales tax data for Texas cities analyzed by the U.S. Surgeon General's report do not reflect a decline in business since going smoke-free.